Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1887-06-04
BsavE rHOsrssx xAAusR.

sketch os Peter Pence. Who Fought In tho Rev.
oiationsry War and Was Afterwards an Iu-
dian Fighter On the susqushAnns.
From the wiikesbarro Record
Peter Pence, whose name has SO often been
read In connection with that Of Moses Van
Campen, was German, or rather Pennsyl.
vsnis Dutchman, Of the days Of seventy six.
1t is believed that his proper name WAS Peter
Bentz, which name at that time was fire.
quently met in Lancaster county, and that he
came from there to Shamokin, aud that II
was changed TO Pence, BY Iae we'll. known
aptitude of the Pennsylvania Dutchman u
cross the sounds OF the letters b aud " hen
speaking English, that in this way his name
was written Pence.
In one Of the Wyoming histories, in relst.
Ing his aud Moses Van Cam PENS I'D ventures
during Q captivity with the indians, Pence
u described - . Joung boy. This Is = mis-.
take, - Peter was not only . man, but . very
numerous one, both on the north aud west
branches OF the SusquehAnns, ~ an Indian
tighter and scout, or, ~ they were called in
thOSo days, ranger. The first record we
have of him Is that In June, l775, he enlisted
in Captain John Lowdon's company, First
Ride regiment, commanded by Col. William
Thompson. This company canped at Sun.
bury, thence marched 10 iieading snd Esston |;
theuce through the northern part Of the
state OF New Jersey; and crossed the
AuAooA tbNoA NJ ANcU luusDT, u low mll6S
northwest Of West Point thence through
Hartford TO Cambridge, where 1t arrived
about the S.h OF August Pence's company
was now tairly TO the front and he had an op
portunity Of seeing the British troops whose
batteries frowned down upon him from
Bunker, Breed and Copp's hills, as also from
their war ships In the harbOr. fhe men OF
the regiment to which Pence belonged were
thus described AT the time in Thscher's
Military Journal:
s,Ssyernl C,o,n nanias NJ rin.msn hova ar
rived here from Pennsy lvania and Maryl land,
= distance OF from i've hundred to seven
hundred miles. They are remar ably stout
and hardy men, many oi them exceeding six
t0et IN height They are dressed in rifle
shirts aud round hats These men are re-
mark able for the accuracy Of their aiui, strik-
ing = mark with great certainty at two
hundred yards distance. At review OF
they fired their balls into objects OF seven
inch diameter, distance OF 80 yards They
are now stationed on our lines and their shO,
and soldiers"
II this is = fair picture of the kind of toy
Pence WAS in 775 then he should have been
something more than boy, when in tho
month OF April, 1880, he Van CAmpsn and
Pike, with the two boys Jonah Rogers aud
the boy Nrn Campen, Most = little nspl g.,
rose gu their csptors, near Tiogs Point, anu
slew portion OF them, routed the remainder
aud captured ali their guns and bian kets.
After which they made their way down the
North Branch ot the Susqushanna river,
part OF the way on foot aud part on u raft
resching Wyoming on the Atm day of April,
l7sO
Here Pike and the 10y, Jonah Rogers. 10
the party, ~ they we're now near iheir
homes On the evening OF the 9th Pence.
Van Campen and his little nephew again
took the Iiver In canoe aud travelled ali
night Is ~ that tiIne the Indians were on the
river below wyoming in force. They
reached Fort jenkins (now Briar creek, CO
lumbia county) on the morning OF the 9TH OF
April, where they met Col. Kelly, with one
hundred men, who had come across from the
West Branch. Here 1t was that Moses Van.
Csmpsn hrst met his mother and her
younger children, who had escaped the mas.
sacre IN which his father, brother and uncle
met their fate just week before. She had
supposed him victim OF the slaughter, The
next day Pence and NanCampen LETT Fort
jenkins In Aheir canoes and reached Fort
Augusta, 1t Sunbury, where they were re-.
ceived IN = regular frontier triumph. On
the Oh following, Lieut. Col. Ludwig Welt.
ner writes from Northumberland to the board
Of war, stating that he encloses a deposition.
or rather copy OF 1t, OF one Peter Bens,
who was lately taken prisoner by the Indians
on the 10Th OF March last and happily mad 9
his escape with three more of his fellow ant
ferers. Every effort has been made to dis.
cover this deposition or copy OF 1t, but with.
out success. The statement of Moses Van
Csmpen ~ to this particular event must
therefore forever stand alone.